idiot post, watch the game, AB hogs the freakin ball like sam cassell, martin has to get the ball to be able to carry a team. one more thing its an insult to kevin and us rocket fans to compare him to kobe, lerbon.
I wasn't literally comparing him to the likes of Jordan and Kobe. You don't have to be a Superstar to go into kill mode. Take a guy like Reggie Miller. Who is actually very similar to Martin but less athletic. He was never afraid to take that shot and has hit numerous big shots throughout his career. Talent wise, he is not on the level of Jordan or Kobe but when it came down to it, he wanted the shot just like they do. No matter how bad he was shooting, everyone in the building knew Reggie was going to take the last shot. He did get the ball at the most important time at the game, before regulation ended. And he passed it off. You can say the defender was on him good but he didn't even attempt to look for a shot. Where was the Kevin Martin that likes to attack? He doesn't have to be a Lebron or Kobe. He just needs to be Kevin Martin, during the entire game. He has all the tools to be a late game threat. Would much rather have Martin attack the rim during last play situations than a AB for three.
If he's going up against a weak defender that he can make a move on and blow right by, then he should definitely be our "go-to" guy in big situations. If there is a legitimate defender guarding him, though, I think AB is going to have to be the "go-to" guy. Sadly, unless one of those guys step up in the clutch next season, we're probably going to have the same problems with Yao on the floor.
Although Martin is presenting himself as a timid player of talent I think it will be next season when we see him at his best. he needs time to truly fit in and be one of the guys, remember he has replaced a much beloved Landry on our team. When & if we get a fit Yao Ming back on the court, Yao will have to be told what is required of him, in as much as after a period of getting his game back on track he needs to be the dominant player. Yao has a personality unlike most of us and responds to direction. Of course Adelman's game does not easily lend itself to the play of dominant players.
I would say TBD on this question....I still think he is finding his place in our system. For most of the game everything seems to work well as far as moving/sharing the ball, but towards the end of the game he is still deferring to aaron to make the big plays. It has been ab's job all year to make the big plays with yao and tmac out, so I can see why the new guy doesn't want to disrupt the flow(same goes with quarter ending plays). Yes we would like to see the new guy come in take control and immediately sink some game winners, but can't we give this a little more time? New coach, new team, new players(some he still hasnt even worked with), overtime in the second game of a back to back on the road.....patience my friends...patience
Does Kevin Martin have that "killer instinct"? --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yes! He does!!!! And I heard he's pretty good with Fulgore and Jago!!!
I think a lot of people are rushing to judgement too quickly on Kevin Martin. Yes, he has been less effective in the 3rd and 4th quarters. But he said as soon as he joined our team he was going to have to be in better shape to keep with our system. It may be we'll see his production improve late in games once he's in better shape. OR - it could be that he's still trying to fit in. That he's still learning the system and gets more nervous about making mistakes late in the game. ETC ETC ETC Lay off the guy. He's looking amazing so far.
RIP FREAKIN HAMILTON. He's not lebron, he's not a go to guy, he's not anything else but a more mobile Rip. Fans need to understand this. He's never been that guy, never will. He's a guy that's going to help you throughout a game. Help you be a more efficient team on offense. He's not going to talk trash, he's not going to have a feud with Spike Lee, nothing. He is what he is.....
Martin doesn't have to be the go 2 guy. When Yao come back...it's going to be him and Brooks. Martin is just playing within the rule of the game...when he's open...he'll shoot the ball and when he's not he's not going to force thing. He's not the type that force himself and that's perfect i think...you all see what happened with Tmac...when he took the majority of the shots and even if they don't go in...HE STILL going to take the bulk of the shots..and that reduce everyone to standing around watching him. We dont' need Martin to be like Tmac.
Killer instinct? Martin is not the type of guy you want for the game winning/tying shot. He shoots a low FG%. He makes up for it on hitting threes and drawing contact for getting extra points. These things matter a lot less when you lose if you miss. On the other hand, the team probably would be a lot farther behind so that the last shot wouldn't even matter without him.
Martin buzzer beater against Spurs <object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/FdlsL9aytds&hl=fr_FR&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/FdlsL9aytds&hl=fr_FR&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>
Just a few thoughts. We needed a 3 to tie. Obviously Detroit knew this and was overplaying the perimeter. Kobe, Lebron, and/or MJ may have been able to get off a shot but it would have been contested the same way Martin's shot was. The top 3 guy realistically have about a 25% chance of making that shot under the same circumstances. If Martin had hit that shot to tie, and we had went on to down the Pistons, then a lot of posters would be comparing him to Kobe, Lebron, and MJ, and expecting Martin to become "The Closer" for us. The idea of a "Closer" in Adelman's system is ludicrous. Adelman's system is predicated on having "closers", that is 5 guys that can get off a shot and hit it when it is in their range, that can see the floor and pass the ball to the open man, and the intelligence to be able to identify what the defense is taking away and what it is giving. This means having basically 5 Kevin Martin type players who think quickly and react and pass the ball to who has the open shot. Unfortunately, Brooks is still developing and hasn't learned to move the ball more earlier. These guys are still learning one another. We should have been up by about 15 in that game so there wasn't even an overtime to play. What this team really needs to work on right now is defensive responsibility, transition defense, and rotations. Does anybody remember Jeff Van Gundy? We have now become the polar opposite of Van Gundy, flashy offense that is going to get flashier, and a poor defensive team that does not get back, does not rotate for help, and that gambles too much. When Chuck Hayes plays less than 20 minutes, we are giving up a truckload of points. Our interior post defense is very soft, hence the insertion of Hill (which I believe continues). We have nothing defensively in the paint past Hayes and on the perimeter, Brooks is gettting chewed up right now. On top of all that, Martin is starting to gamble too much. He's very smart. I'm sure his thought is either get the steal and the easy one or get the shooter into the teeth of our interior defense where they have to face bigger defenders shot blocking. The problem is we lack size and athleticism up front to be able to gamble as much as Martin's game is ideally suited for. Martin has a killer instinct as demonstrated when he played on those Kings teams with Bibby, Webber, and Vlade. Those guys combined had great killer instincts and would have won a championship if it had not been for some terrible officiating in game 7 in Lakerland. They were better than that Laker team. Martin was a part of that unit. He is a tremendously gifted, tremendously smart basketball player who WILL NOT dominate the basketball. Martin actually runs Adelman's system better than Brooks does. Brooks is still finding his way. He is getting better and better. But he has to step up defensively, and he has to do a better job offensively when it becomes obvious that the defense is doubling him and focusing on stopping them. He is fast and quick enough to get around the double team and still score or dish. But he would much more effective recognizing the double, getting rid of the ball quicker in those situations and letting Scola and Martin create something else. Brooks worked awful hard last night and because he was working so hard offensively, he didn't work very hard defensively. Therefore the point guard matchup was a wash with Bynum effectively neutralizing him. Brooks has to understand the game better. When he runs around and through all those double teams, even if he scores 50 points, he is allowing the rest of the opponent's defense to lollygag around and save their legs for the other end. You have to pressure the opponent and wear down the whole team. That is only accomplished with lots and lots of ball movement. Brooks should have seen all those doubles coming and gotten rid of the ball to the other side before they had a chance to collapse on him and work him over. And then Martin vs. Prince. I don't care who Martin is playing with, if his teammates allow him to play iso defense on Prince and he's got to defend that praying mantis 8 feet from the rim on the post up, he has no chance to be successful. You have to use common sense defensively. Battier was on RIP, you gotta bring help to Martin. And Martin should have been fronting Prince and making Bynum throw it over the top with backside help collapsing on the play. And Martin switching off Prince if Prince successfully caught the ball up high. Our defense is absolutely horrid right now. There's no two ways around it. Way too much overplay and cheating, and woefully lacking in scramble, intensity, and defensive intelligence regarding concepts of floor balance and covering the run outs after a shot is put up. You get 4 or 5 guys flat down on the baseline and nary a one gets their butt back up top to get back defensively. They have totally lost the concept of transitioning to defense in a balanced manner, worrying more about trying to get that 5% chance offensive rebound. It is a low percentage basketball play for guys on the perimeter to offensive rebound. Perimeter players have to pick their spots for offensive rebounding. The rest of the time they need to skedaddle back on defense to make the other team have to walk it up.
Kevin shows the ability to score in the clutch more than Brooks. Last night for example, Brooks air balled an open three in the final seconds of the game while Martin took a worser look that was more rushed and only missed it a little to the left. That's not why I think Martin should be the guy to close out games this season. Martin can draw fouls. He is taller and has the height advantage at his position. He has proven it in the past as well. <object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/2FegVx5ZvZw&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/2FegVx5ZvZw&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>
